The European Commission is figuring out how it could help Ukraine secure satellite communication capacity in the wake of Elon Musk reportedly threatening to pull Kyiv’s access to his Starlink network. Space-based communication systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it remains unclear whether Musk will continue to offer Starlink as the war grinds on. Ukraine said last year it has about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation in the country; about half are financed by Poland.

  • @revolutionaryvole
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    224 hours ago

    That might be true for the American professional class as a whole, but Europe could still outbid the USA in industries it decides to focus on.

    If for example the EU wanted to headhunt Spacex engineers, it could easily offer every one a bigger salary. Spacex’s budget is still significantly smaller than the ESA’s.

    Not that the EU is likely to try that tactic in particular, although spending more money on space seems possible as part of avoiding reliance on the Americans.